Question
I am hosting a committee or a process that involves collaborators from outside of YSU. How can I add guests to the Team? What is the process for the guest to access the Team?
Answer
Microsoft Teams allows for the adding of users outside of YSU by email address. For instance, this is an essential feature for YSU sponsored committees or processes that involve collaborators from the community that are not affiliated with YSU.
Adding guests to a Team
Verifying Membership
Guest Access
To add a guest(s) and generate an invitation to their email address, please take the following steps:
1. From the Team in which you need to add the guest(s)., click the ellipses (...) next to the Team name and click Add Member.
2. On the next screen, enter the email address of the person you need to add. Press enter on your keyboard or click on the Add (email address) as a guest? box that appears.
3. The guest information will then appear on the list of users you are adding, Click Add name to provide the guest's name.
4. Enter the guest's name accordingly. Click the check mark to save the name.
5. To add additional guests at this screen, repeat the actions above by clicking in the field that says Type a name or email. When you are ready, verify your guest list and the click the Add button.
6. After adding your guest(s), the system will process the guest(s) into the members list. This system will now generate an email invitation to the guest(s) with instructions on how to access the Team. Please allow a few seconds for the process to complete. The following screen sequence will appear:
After the process has completed, you can now return to your Team. To verify your Team membership list, including any and all guests, please take the following steps:
1. Click the ellipses (...) next to the Team name, and click on Manage team.
2. At the Manage team screen., You will see a list of all Owners, Members, and Guests. You may need to click the carrot icon next to Members and guests to collapse the list. While you can change the role of any internal YSU team member, guest level access cannot be adjusted. To remove a guest from your team, just click the X next to the role column of the individual you wish to remove. Additionally, you can add more guests (or internal YSU members) by clicking the Add member button at the top.
Note: Names, pictures, and locations masked for privacy in the screen sample below.
After a few minutes, the guest(s) should have received an invitation to the provided email address. The guest(s) will need to take the following steps:
1. Open the email sent to them stating that they have been adding to the Team. Important: If they cannot find the email, have them check their junk or spam box.
2. After opening the email, they guest will need to click Open Microsoft Teams.
2. The guest will first need to authenticate using the platform of the provided email address. For example, if using Gmail, the guest will first be prompted to login to Google. After logging in, the guest may need to acknowledge the next screen which explains information shared with YSU (this example is from Google). Click Accept to continue.
3. After authenticating, the guest can choose how they wish to open Teams. For the quickest experience, opening on the web is preferred. The web option may also be preferred if using a device that has Teams installed but associated with another organization (for example, the guest's employer). In this situation, click Use the web app instead. If the guest wishes to use the Teams app, click Download the Windows App (Note: this button may be different based on the type of device used).
The guest(s) should now be able to collaborate with your Team and access any resources that you have enabled for guest access. If you have any questions or need consultation, please visit YSU IT Training Services or email ITTraining@ysu.edu.
Companion Video
More information from Microsoft: Learn about adding guests.
You may have files or folders that your guests will be accessing. You can adjust guest permissions to your data inside of your Team channels. Please see: Sharing Files or Folders.